Charges dropped against artist arrested in connection with G20

TORONTO – Seven months after the G20 summit in Toronto all charges
were finally dropped against a visual artist who was accused of possessing
explosives and dangerous weapons in connection with the summit.

Kristen Peterson was arrested in June in the Toronto home she shares with
her common-law husband Byron Sonne. Sonne, a computer security expert who was
charged with possessing explosives among other things, remains in custody.

“In this case, and it speak volumes, after looking at the evidence they
didn’t even bother trying to proceed with the preliminary inquiry against
Kristen,” said Peterson’s lawyer, Brian Heller. “Upon a review of the
evidence, they concluded that there was no reasonable prospect of finding a
verdict of guilt. That’s significant.”

While the charges were in connection with the G20 summit, Heller doesn’t
believe Peterson’s arrest was a result of the hysteria surrounding the event.

“You find something that you think might be a dangerous weapon and you see
that somebody lives in the house or owns the house, you arrive at certain
assumptions, and that’s what leads to charges being laid. It had nothing to do
with hysteria in my view.”

Peterson’s case was thrown out on the first day of preliminary hearings, a
relief, explained Heller, considering the publicity surrounding her arrest.

“She’s presumed innocent going in, in spite of all the terribly
embarrassing publicity that surrounded her arrest and initial charges,” he
said, reading back his own words from a court transcript. “That fairness and
courtesy that they exhibited, and this is what I said, was in the finest
traditions of the Toronto Police Service and Ministry of the Attorney General
of Ontario. With that, and a big smile, and a thank you, his honour said, ‘you
may leave.”’

Heller takes the court’s fairness in this particular case as a sign of the
strength of our judicial system.

“The system worked in this case,” he said. “We wake up every day and
people are forever criticizing the police and criticizing the Crown for this
and for that, and I can tell you in this case with respect to Kristen Peterson,
the system worked, and she is absolutely grateful that that’s the case. And now,
on with her life.”